♂Andrew Spaulding

Andrew Spaulding (8 December 1701 – after 1 July 1768) was a weaver and a deacon of the First church in Westford, Massachusetts. He was the fifth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through his daughter Ruth Spaulding (1746–1790).

Life

The Chelmsford town records enter his birth on 8 December 1701 as “Andrew, s. Andrew and Abbigal”, the son of Andrew Spaulding (1678–1753) and Abigail Warren, who had married at Chelmsford that February. A Spalding family genealogy published in 1897 records that he lived at Westford, where he was a deacon of the First church, and was a weaver by trade. It also says that he was one of the grantees of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and signed the covenant when its church was organized, but probably never lived there. The Westford birth register calls him “Deac. Andrew Spaulding” when it enters the births of his later children.

In the west precinct of Chelmsford, which became the town of Westford in 1729, he was probably among the founding members who signed the covenant of the Second Church of Christ in Chelmsford, the Westford church, on 27 November 1727. The church was gathered at the ordination of Rev. Willard Hall.

At Westford’s first town meeting, on 2 March 1729/30, he was most likely chosen one of the surveyors of highways. In September 1730 a town road to the Dunstable line was laid out from beside his shop and barn, which seems to have stood on the north side of Keyes Pond, on the place later held by John Morrison.

He was probably one of the town’s selectmen in 1733, 1734 and 1738, and most likely its treasurer in 1735. He appears to have taught in the Westford schools in 1739, 1742 and 1754.

The 1897 genealogy gives 1 July 1768 as his death, but that is the day his second wife Mehitable died, and his own death is not on record.

Marriages and family

An intention of marriage between Andrew and Hannah Wright was entered at Chelmsford on 21 November 1725; the marriage itself is not on record. The Westford register records eight children of Andrew and his first wife Hannah, born between 1729 and 1744. According to the 1897 genealogy, Hannah died on 11 February 1744, and on 26 November 1745 he married Mrs. Mehitable Crosby, born Mehitable Chandler of Andover, the widow of Robert Crosby. Their daughter Ruth was born on 15 December 1746, and the register names her as the daughter of “Andrew Spaulding and Mehittable his wife”. Two sons, Solomon and Henry, and a daughter, Abigail, followed between 1748 and 1754. The 1897 genealogy records that Ruth married Isaac Butterfield of Dunstable on 3 December 1772.

The genealogy also quotes a petition he made to the General Court of Massachusetts for help concerning “his son-in-law, Joel Crosby, who was taken captive at Half-way Brook, near lake George, June 20, 1758”, during the French and Indian War. Crosby was the surname of his second wife’s first husband, and in the usage of the time “son-in-law” could also mean a stepson. The records do not say which Joel was.

Notes

The intention of 1725

The intention of marriage between Andrew Spaulding and Hannah Wright is entered in the Chelmsford vital records on 21 November 1725, as a cross-entry under Wright. No marriage of the two is on record, so the body gives the intention only.

Hannah’s death in 1744

The date of 11 February 1744 rests on the 1897 Spalding genealogy alone (compiled). Her death is also given as 1745, the year only, which differs from the genealogy’s date.

The date of his death

• The 1897 Spalding genealogy gives “d. July 1, 1768” in his entry (compiled). That is the day his second wife died.
• The printed Westford vital records (1915), p.315, enter “Mehittabel, w. Dea. Andrew, July 1, 1768” (on record). Westford writes “w.” for a wife, and the Chelmsford records write “wid.” for a widow, so the entry records his wife’s death while he was living.
• Hodgman’s History of the Town of Westford (1883), p.416, gives the same date for “Mehitable, wife of Dea. Andrew Spalding”.
• No death of his appears in the printed Westford or Chelmsford death records or in Hodgman’s death list. The 1897 genealogy adds that his death and his widow’s were recorded at Townsend, but no Townsend record of either is known.

The church covenant of 1727

Hodgman’s History of the Town of Westford, in the County of Middlesex (1883), gives the covenant of the Second Church of Christ in Chelmsford, the Westford church, gathered at the ordination of Rev. Willard Hall on 27 November 1727. The west precinct became the town of Westford in 1729. His place among the founding members rests on this compiled history.

Offices and lands in Westford, 1729 to 1765

Hodgman (1883) gives the following, all compiled: surveyor of highways at the first town meeting, 2 March 1729/30; a town road to the Dunstable line laid out in September 1730 from beside his shop and barn, his place on the north side of Keyes Pond, later John Morrison’s; selectman in 1733, 1734 and 1738, the last under the title of deacon; town treasurer in 1735; schoolteacher in the Westford schools in 1739, 1742 and 1754; and a road laid out on 2 March 1765 a little south of his house. A 1753 selectman named Andrew Spaulding may be him or his son Andrew (born 1729) and is left out.

The spelling

Hodgman and the 1897 genealogy print the name Spalding in their text. This bio keeps the spelling Spaulding used in the lede.